Our websites may use cookies to personalize and enhance your experience. By continuing without changing your cookie settings, you agree to this collection. For more information, please see our University Websites Privacy Notice.

Senior says examples of success helped her

As a student at UConn, Mallory Guy spent much of her college career as a minority, since there aren’t an abundance of female physics and electrical engineering double majors.

And in the physics department, Guy also noticed that there were few women faculty. Despite her close relationship with her undergraduate research advisor, professor Cynthia Peterson, Guy felt that the department could use some more female role models.

“I think it’s important that when you’re outnumbered in a field, you at least get a chance to interact with people like you who have succeeded,” she says. “You notice when you’re different, and seeing examples of success can help a lot.”

Since the start of her senior year, the Danbury native has been a founding member – and the only undergraduate member – of the department’s new Diversity Committee, which is working to improve the environment for women in the field of physics at UConn.

The committee presented a Distinguished Women Physicist Lecture Series this semester, and Guy had the idea to include a lunch with undergraduates as an opportunity for new role models. As one of the presidents of the Physics Club, she also proposed the idea to have Physics Club segment of the Distinguished Women Lecture Series, including professional lectures, climate-for-women politics and other discussions.

Susanne Yelin, associate professor of physics and a member of the Diversity Committee, says that Guy constantly introduced new ideas like these to improve the climate in the department for minorities and for undergraduates.

“She is the physics major most engaged in leaving the department a better place than she found it,” says Yelin.

Her outreach efforts didn’t prevent Guy from succeeding in the classroom and the research lab as well. Her senior research thesis with Peterson was focused on thermoluminescent dating, a technique that uses the amount of light emitted from samples of opal and silica, both types of quartz, to measure their age.

Guy has been accepted to several graduate schools and will go on to complete a PhD in condensed matter physics. She says that one of her motivations for going to graduate school was noticing that some of her professors seemed to be “the happiest people in the world” — especially Peterson.

“Seeing how excited she was about her work is part of the reason I’m going to graduate school,” says Guy.

The other part, she says, is her simple love of lifelong learning.

“Physics helps you understand everything else, and I always like knowing how things work,” she says. “College was a challenge and I worked really hard, but school has been fun for me. I can’t imagine myself being satisfied without this in my life.”

Join us for a talk by Gina Barreca,2018 UCONN BOARD OF TRUSTEESDISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH

All great works of fiction, poetry and dramaâas well as texts forming mythologies, religions, national epics to heroic sagasâhave loneliness at the heart of their narrative. From Persephone to Peter Pan, from âFrankensteinâ to âFrozen,â the stories we pass along are saturated with unwilling isolation.âOnly around half of Americans say they have meaningful, daily face-to-face social interactions,â according to a 2017 study. A former U.S. Surgeon General argues that âWe live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s.â We need more than social media. We need social contact. We need community. How can we break through the loneliness barrier? Being alone when in need of companionship is more than sad; itâs an epidemic.Chronic loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. We need to change our national story and, often, our personal ones as well.Even the concept of the âlone wolfâ is a myth. Wolves hunt in packs.

Reception to follow.

For more information about this event, or if you are an individual who requires special accommodation to participate, please contact the CLAS Deanâs Office at (860) 486-2713.

A liberal arts and sciences degree prepares students with the tools they need to excel across a wide range of careers. Given the number of options available to you, it can be overwhelming to narrow down career choices. Attending CLAS Career Night will provide you exposure to career opportunities for CLAS students.

This semesterâs focus will be on research-based careers. During this event you will engage with CLAS alumni, learn about various occupations, and gain insight about how to best prepare for your future career.

The McNair Scholars Program and the Office of Undergraduate Research invite you to join us for a brown bag research seminar.

Birds, Bacteria, and Bioinformatics: Why Evolutionary Biology is the Best

Sarah Hird, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology

This series is open to all undergraduate and graduate students, and is designed especially for students conducting (or interested in conducting) STEM research. These seminars are opportunities to learn about research being pursued around campus, to talk with faculty about their path into research, and to ask questions about getting involved in research.

About CLAS

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the academic core of learning and research at UConn. We are committed to the full spectrum of academics across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. We give students a liberal arts and sciences education that empowers them with broad knowledge, transferable skills, and an ability to think critically about important issues across a variety of disciplines.